Free Web NovelChapter 40: Chapter 40: A Maiden’s Heart in Spring
The sound of recitation filled the classroom. Lin Yanwan recited ancient poetry absent-mindedly, suddenly finding herself staring at her water cup in a daze.
Noticing the silence beside her, Shen Ying quietly turned her head. Sure enough, she saw a blissful smile unconsciously gracing Lin Yanwan’s face.
’Back in the old days, if a maiden waiting for marriage was seen with that look on her face, everyone would know she was lovesick.’
She couldn’t help but recall the scene from the bus earlier: Jiang Xia secretly kissing Yanwan’s lips. Damn, she was so jealous it hurt.
"Could you try to be a little more subtle?" Shen Ying whispered. "It’s like you’re afraid people won’t notice the school’s ’ice queen’ has started thinking about boys, huh?"
"That’s not true! I was just reciting silently," Lin Yanwan snapped back to reality, her face flushing slightly.
"Yeah, right. You’ve got ’lovesick’ written all over your face," Shen Ying pouted. "So a cute guy kissed you, and now you’re all spaced out? Let me tell you, young lady, your first kiss is gone!"
The more she spoke, the more jealous she became. She’d been force-fed a huge dose of their PDA first thing in the morning, to the point she’d lost her appetite for breakfast.
Lin Yanwan pretended not to hear, continuing to recite softly. ’There’s no way I’m admitting I was spacing out because I suddenly remembered our first kiss from our past life.’
◇
Time always flies when you’re sleeping. In the blink of an eye, the morning self-study session was over, and Jiang Xia was still sprawled on his desk, fast asleep.
Chen Yao couldn’t help but wonder, ’Did this guy sneak out to fool around last night? Why else would he not be drawing? And how can he sleep so soundly in such a noisy classroom?’
Lin Yanwan suddenly appeared at the doorway. Wang Ming, spotting her, immediately shot to his feet. "Sis! You looking for Jiang Xia? I can wake him up for you."
She didn’t mind this "new" title in the slightest. Perhaps it was because she’d grown used to hearing him call her that in her past life.
Lin Yanwan glanced toward Jiang Xia’s desk. Seeing him asleep, she immediately shook her head. "Don’t wake him. Let him sleep."
"???"
Watching Lin Yanwan arrive only to leave again, Wang Ming was completely bewildered. ’Hold on, what did you two do last night?!’ He had no idea they had secretly kissed on the bus. If he’d been there to see it, he probably would have cried from envy.
He’d never even held a girl’s hand, while Jiang Xia was already at the peak of his life, having kissed a girl.
The class bell rang before anyone knew it. Chen Yao poked Jiang Xia’s arm with her pen.
"Still sleeping? Class is starting!"
’Jiang Xia’s attitude is changing so fast,’ she thought. ’He was so motivated before. How could he start slacking off again after just two days? Doesn’t he want to get into the same university as his beautiful girlfriend anymore?’
"Aargh..."
Slowly waking from his deep sleep, Jiang Xia let out a satisfying yawn. He rubbed his eyes, which still felt a little sore, but he felt much more refreshed.
He had slept from the start of the morning self-study session until the first class at eight o’clock. Those two hours had done a lot to relieve his mental exhaustion.
His phone, sitting in his desk drawer, suddenly vibrated. He took it out and saw a text from Lin Yanwan.
[Class has started. Are you awake?]
[I’m awake. And no, I wasn’t dreaming about you.]
[I never said you were! Just pay attention in class. Don’t text back!]
Jiang Xia chuckled, turned off his phone, and tossed it back into his desk. He refocused on the teacher’s lecture, systematically reviewing and filling in the gaps in his knowledge.
But occasionally, his gaze would drift to the overcast sky outside, and he’d think of Lin Yanwan’s soft lips.
’If we hadn’t been on the bus... would we have kissed for a long time?’
◇
Time slipped away like fine sand through one’s fingers. In the blink of an eye, it was early April, the time when vines begin to seed.
Jiang Xia diligently studied and painstakingly drew, occasionally squeezing in time to romance his wife from his past life. His days were incredibly fulfilling.
If this were the modern internet era, Wang Ming would have definitely crowned him a "Master of Time Management."
The original drawings for the first episode of *Cat and Mouse* were all complete. Including the opening and closing sequences, it amounted to nearly 700 drawings. The only work left was to color them using software and then edit them into a finished episode.
He could only work on this after school each night and on the weekends, racing against the clock on his home computer. By his rough estimate, it would take another week or so.
During school breaks, he had already started storyboarding the second episode, "The Midnight Snack."
He needed to maintain a highly efficient workflow—producing one episode while drawing the next. Only then could he ensure he had a backlog of ten finished episodes by the end of the college entrance exams.
School let out early on Friday after the monthly exams.
Wang Ming asked Jiang Xia if he wanted to go to the internet cafe for an intense gaming session, but he was flatly rejected. ’Wouldn’t this time be better spent coloring the key-frames?’
"Old Jiang, you’ve betrayed the revolution!"
Wang Ming’s face was filled with indignation. "We made a pact! ’Friends for life, we walk the path together; whoever gets a girlfriend first is a dog!’ I’ll let it slide that you’re constantly flaunting your relationship with Sis, but now you’re quitting games too? My character is already level 30 and crushing it in the Celestial Veil Giant Beast zone! And you? I haven’t even seen you log on!"
"Gaming gets in the way of studying," Jiang Xia said righteously. "And I have chosen to swim in the ocean of knowledge."
"Such a show-off. Let’s see if you can even break the top 100 on this month’s exam."
Jiang Xia rubbed his chin, his tone serious. "I think I can make it into the top fifty."
"For real?" Wang Ming raised an eyebrow, skeptical.
There were over four hundred students in the six liberal arts classes. If he could consistently place in the top fifty of his year, getting into a Tier 1 university would be no problem.
He himself ranked around 50th, while Jiang Xia was usually outside the top 100. And now this guy was not only staying up all night to draw but also dating his girlfriend.
’If his grades can still improve that drastically, I might as well just go find a wall and bash my head against it.’
"Should be about right," Jiang Xia said.
Hearing this, Chen Yao was inclined to believe him. The guy had been incredibly focused in class recently. He was asking her for help far less often, and the questions he did ask were significantly more difficult.
"Chen Yao, do you believe him?"
"There’s no reason not to. Hard work pays off." As she spoke, she glanced at Jiang Xia. "What did you put for the last multiple-choice question on the liberal arts comprehensive test?"
"C, I think."
"Me too."
Wang Ming froze. Why were they suddenly comparing answers? The crucial part was... he had picked D!
’Damn it. So after all that, I’m the clown here?’
Jiang Xia packed his bag, and Lin Yanwan was already waiting for him at the classroom door.
The students of Class 6 were no longer surprised by this sight. The two never tried to hide their relationship, and it was now an established fact. All anyone could do was shoot Jiang Xia envious looks.
"Well, I’m heading out."
"Hey, wait up!" Wang Ming called out.
"Aren’t you going to the internet cafe for your gaming session?"
"We’re at least heading to the school gate together, right?"
"Alright, let’s go."
As they left the classroom, Wang Ming, not ready to give up, quietly asked Lin Yanwan.
"Sis, what did you put for the last multiple-choice question on the comprehensive test?"
"C."
He was suddenly too devastated to speak. Shen Ying gave him a surprised look. "You didn’t get one that easy wrong, did you?"
That easy...
Such a simple sentence, yet it dealt a devastating blow to his fragile heart.
He reflected on his pain and came to a decision. ’To hell with gaming! I’m done!’ frёewebnoѵēl.com
’Starting today, I’m going to get serious about studying too!’
...
(My head is splitting today. There will be another Chapter in a bit.)
(The new Chapter is being reviewed. *Sigh*)
